BI4145: Carbon Sequestering Lab

Marcella Willet, Sophie Feinblatt, Sheel Patel, Abigail Wilson

Objectives:
The purpose of the lab is to determine the amount of carbon that one tree in the 10m x 10m plot
sequesters, on average. For our experiment and calculations, we chose our only pine tree from
the old growth section of Duke Forest. We hypothesize that our chosen tree will sequester carbon
for the period of time that it has grown.

Methods:
Using flagging tape, the group marked off 100 square meters of forest from the two sides of the
road: the young and old forest. Making sure the diameter was larger than 2 fingers, the group
measured circumference at breast height using DBH tape, classified the tree as evergreen or
deciduous, and calculated tree height with the “between the legs” method. The data that was
collected was then plugged into biomass and carbon formulas to calculate various aspects of
carbon sequestration.

Results:
Our older growth plot of trees had sequestered a total of 28,342 g of CO2 per m2, while our
younger growth plot of trees had sequestered a total of 35,855 g of CO2 per m2. This differs from
the average class data where the older growth plots sequestered an average of 38,393 of CO2 per
m2 while the younger growth plots sequestered an average of 21,705 g of CO2 per m2. Over the
course of 5 years, the trees in our older growth plot sequestered 4,305 g of CO2 per m2 while the
trees in our younger growth plot sequestered 12,416 g of CO2 per m2.

Discussion Questions:
For comparison between the two stands of trees, a tree of relative similarity in DBH was chosen
from the young and old growth plots. At this time the young growth plot sequesters the largest
amount of carbon dioxide with approximately 35884 g/m2. In comparison, over the last five
years the old growth plot of trees has sequestered 122552.225 g/m2 of carbon dioxide, which is
slightly above the carbon sequestration for the young growth plot. This knowledge of carbon
dioxide sequestration is important to climate change mitigation because of its relationship to
carbon emissions and greenhouse gasses. Learning how to capture and store carbon, emissions
are reduced and should rely on the same pattern to the greenhouse effect overall.
Calculations:

Our individual carbon emissions:

Abigail - 70.24 lbs of CO2 → 31860.30208 g of CO2 → about 0.8298 m2 of old growth to offset
Marcella - 16.32 lbs of CO2 → 7402.63 g of CO2 → about 0.19 m2 of older growth trees to offset
Sophie - 179.44 lbs of CO → 81,374.6045 g → about 2.12 m2 of older growth trees to offset
Sheel - 128.00 lbs of CO2 → 58059.8 g of CO2 → about 1.5123 m2 of older growth trees to offset